How to Grow Indoor Blooms and Bulbs

Cold-weather blooms

Bring the freshness of spring inside your Midwest home even during cold weather by choosing plants that bloom--or can be forced to bloom--this time of year.

Because these fragrant blossoms make excellent accents in any home, they make great gifts, too.

This study in purple shines with a combination of tulips and two kinds of hyacinth that were forced to bloom in winter. Click ahead for more houseplants with blossoms, or go to slides 10 through 18 for bulbs that are good for forcing.

African violets

These delicate plants reward with year-round blossoms and petite beauty. Choose variegated, ruffled or white-edged blooms. For a simple gift, start a cutting for a friend! (Plant the stem of a healthy, crisp leaf--not an older outside leaf--an inch or so into potting soil, place in a humid spot, and in about six weeks, you should have a plantlet to share.)

Christmas cactus

Forcing

Forcing means making a bulb bloom inside at a time of year it doesn't naturally bloom outside. Most people force bulbs for winter cheer.

Bulbs grown in cool Zones need chill time to make them think winter has passed. Place potted bulbs in a cold place, such as an unused refrigerator, unheated basement or porch, for about three months. Keep soil moist. About three weeks before you want flowers, position pots in a cool room with indirect light. Once growth forms, it's OK to move the pot to a warm, sunny spot. When flowers fade, toss the plant--forcing is hard on bulbs, so they probably won't rebloom.

This blue pot overflows with English ivy accented by pink hyacinth and primrose.

Paperwhites

Pungent paperwhites are the classic forced bulb. Show them off in a classic urn with a base of artichokes. No chill time needed for these fragrant beauties. Successive plantings result in blooms Thanksgiving to March.